India wants to go green – with 50% of its energy generated by non-fossil fuels by 2030. It’s plan? Install millions of solar panels in just eight years. Is an energy transition at this scale possible?
This ambitious project will mean increasing its solar capacity by about five-fold, from the current levels of 60GW to almost 300 GW in 2030. To achieve this, the country will need over a million acres of land and hundreds of billions in investments.
Yet land acquisition issues could scupper the efforts, as farmers are reluctant to sell ancestral lands for solar projects. At the same time, supply chain problems cast a shadow over India’s solar plans, as China currently dominates the manufacture of silicon wafers, a critical component in photo-voltaic cells.
Can the sub-continent succeed in its push to harness the sun?
